unit #31 & #32 .....any info, would help!

[sidwynder505]

Guys i never thought i'd say this!!! i got my desert bighorn sheep tag!!....wow! got the shakes,,hands went numb!! hot &cold flashes! wanted to gag!....that was in between trafic lights! my wife made me pull over so she could drive!!! i was scearing the you know what out of her!!! lol..thought i was having a heart attack!!.have any of you boys ever looked for the sheep in the units #31 & #32! i just need a place to start with! i cant afford a guide! i just bearly pay the bills! lol!....any info, would be wonderful!! I already tryed to contact W/M in the area! has not returned my call yet!! thanks agin!

[Outdoor Writer]

Congrats! That's three members here so far with sheep permits. Mine is in 45C.

 

One place is Aravaipa Canyon, but you'll need to get a special permit for access from the BLM office in Safford.

[onlycoues4me]

Congratulations on the tag. That hunt is my 1st choice. Aravaipa canyon is a great place to start. My sister and family live in the community of aravaipa. Ive seen the sheep at the end of the canyon road at the beginning of the trailhead. Last fall glassed up several rams in one evening. Good luck!

[trophyhnter]

Make sure you contact G&F. They are always helpful but in this case they are extremely helpful with areas to look at. Also, they may provide some names of previous hunters that are willing to provide info. Go luck!

[Flatlander]

Hunted 31 Oct WT a couple of years ago and we went into Aravaipa from the West side. Saw one nice ram during the 2 days we were in there. A couple of years ago a ram was killed in there that went high 180's.

[mr.smith]

Join the sheep society and go to the banquet. Odds are last years tag holder will find you. I haven't had a sheep tag but I've helped on three hunts and it is definitely addictive.

[reganranch]

Join the sheep society and go to the banquet. Odds are last years tag holder will find you. I haven't had a sheep tag but I've helped on three hunts and it is definitely addictive.

 

Sheep Society is where its at.

[AZLance]

Check out turkey creek off of Aravaipa canyon...

[Dave_D]

First, congratulations! Mr. Smith shares great advice. You will quickly learn that sheep hunters from years past, g&f, and adbss will be your best help. become a member.

 

Ever seen the movie "pay it forward?" This year you will get more than you think you deserve. In coming years you will have the pleasure of giving more than you thought possible. Sheep hunting is special like nothing else. All my best to you...and...Good Luck!

[sidwynder505]

Thank you guys! yes and to you TONY ! I've read a lot of your stories an kind of a fan of yours! congrats on your tag as well!!The couple of areas that keeps popping up is Aravaipa canyon and red field! yes i know there will be a lot of glassing! for i hunt whitetails!! WE all know that hours and hours of glassing is a must and just when you think you covered every rock an bush for thee little ghosts! "BOOM" there they are! so i feel i'm ahead of the game (well kinda) when it comes to glassing the great sheep!! everything you guys give me will be taken out to the field we me! even the small whispers of advise will be held in high regard to me! thanks ya all!!!

[Ad-Hunter]

Hey I have a buddy that use to work for a rancher down in the Arivaipia canyon area punching cows around. I will talk with him and see if he has any good info and I will let you know. I do know that a lot of that area on the East side of Arivaipia is locked off by private but there are a few ranchers that will let you through if you talk with them.

[swaro06]

Congragulations. Contact Dwayne Adams in San Manuel hes a great guy and a very good outfitter that would give you some advice.

[Coues 'n' Sheep]

Congrats on drawing one of the most history rich sheep hunts in the state! I shot my P&Y desert ram there in 2001 and it changed my life forever and that hunt lead me into many other great sheep hunting opportunities! I love that country and the hunting that lies within it! If you are looking for help please don't hesitate to contact me. CONGRATS AGAIN!!!

[Outdoor Writer]

These are excerpts from two different articles I wrote years ago. They provide a bit of perspective on the history.

 

Prior to the influx of civilization to Arizona in the late 1800s, both the desert and the Rocky Mountain bighorns actually inhabited Arizona's mountain ranges. James Ohio Pattie wandered the wilds of Arizona and New Mexico in 1824. His diary, THE PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF JAMES OHIO PATTIE OF KENTUCKY, contained the following:

 

"We called it the San Francisco River. After traveling up its banks about four miles, we encamped and set out all traps and killed a couple of fat turkeys. In the morning we examined our traps, and found in them 37 beavers! This success restored our spirits instantaneously. Exhilarating prospects now opened before us, and we pushed on with animation. The banks of this river for the most part incapable of cultivation being in most part formed of high and rugged mountains. Upon these we saw multitudes of mountain sheep. These animals are not found on level ground, being they slow of foot, but on these cliffs and rocks they are so nimble and expert in jumping from point to point, that no dog or wolf can overtake them. One of them that we killed had the largest horns that I ever saw on animals of any description. One of them would hold a gallon of water. Their meat tastes like our mutton. Their hair is short like deer's, though fine. The French call them "gros cornes," from the size of their horns which curl around their ears, like our domestic sheep. These animals are about the size of deer."

 

Because the terrain around the San Francisco River is atypical for desert sheep, the experts concluded Pattie's "mountain sheep" were Rocky Mountain bighorns. Sadly, they didn't exist in Arizona too long after the settlement of the West began. Both the Rocky Mountain bighorn and the Merriam's elk disappeared from the state during the late 1800s. The desert bighorns, victims of indiscriminate hunting and diseases borne by domestic livestock, almost suffered the same fate.

 

In 1897, the first Arizona game law -- Title 16, Relative to the Preservation of Game Birds and Animals -- outlawed the hunting of sheep from February to October. It still wasn't enough to stem the decline and possible extinction. The state game warden reported to the governor in 1914: "Our mountain sheep have already been exterminated or driven out of a vast area of our once-good game country, and at the present rate at which the work of destruction is going on, largely through the convenient and efficient medium of the automobile, our 20,000 or so licensed hunters, will finish the work of extermination before the general public awakens to a realization of the situation, and demands a sudden and abrupt halt, in order to give our few remnants of a game a chance to replenish."

 

Although the warden's dire prediction led to closing the sheep hunting season, even more measures to prevent the desert bighorn's demise came to fruition in 1939 with the establishment of the Kofa Game Range and Cabeza Prieta Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Arizona. They served as the last strongholds for the desert sheep and subsequently provided the nucleus for experimental sheep relocations that culminated in 1957 with the first transplant to Aravaipa Canyon. More importantly, though, the short-term protection of the bighorns at the two refuges led to the reopening of a hunting season in 1953.

 

********************

 

At one time the desert bighorn inhabited most of Arizona's mountain ranges. Human encroachment, the enigma of the elk, played a major role in their decline, too. Meat hunters, not particular as to what type of game graced the table, haphazardly slaughtered hundreds of sheep.

 

In addition, hordes of domestic livestock competed with the bighorns for the sometimes scarce, available food and water. Disease, introduced and transmitted by the livestock, decimated entire herds.

 

Finally, interested citizens, who feared the demise of the bighorn, sought to protect it. To prevent the sheep's extinction, government agencies established the Kofa Game Range and Cabeza Prieta Wildlife Refuge in 1939. Located in southeastern Arizona, they constituted the last remaining strongholds for the bighorn. In time, the two areas provided a nucleus herd, subsequently permitting game researchers to undertake transplants into other historical bighorn areas.

 

The AGFD selected Aravaipa Canyon, near Klondyke, as the site for the initial restocking. They constructed a 112-acre enclosure in 1957 and released 8 sheep within the following two years. The herd failed to reproduce and dwindled to two rams by 1964. Determined personnel transferred eight more bighorns from the Kofa Game Range. The second effort produced the desired results when the herd grew to 22. Hopeful the sheep would adapt, game specialists released them from the control area.

 

Sheep in Aravaipa steadily increased to the present estimated population of 100. In 1980, permits to hunt desert bighorn in the canyon became a reality. The unit has produced exceptional rams, including a record book head taken in 1982 by John Harris. In December, Jim Ferguson of Yuma, who won a raffled permit that the state had donated to the Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society, pursued a ram at Aravaipa.

 

Elated with the apparent success of the first bighorn transplant, the Arizona Game and Fish Department, with the aid of advanced trapping techniques, has continued to reestablish the sheep. Since 1980 it has relocated animals into the Superstition, Virgin, Galiuro and Eagletail Mountains; the Paria Canyon Primitive Area, the Grand Wash Cliffs and Goat Mountain.

 

Some of these ranges have had recent, supplemental stockings. In November, 1984 the Kofa Game Range supplied 30 sheep for release at Coffee Flat in the Superstitions. Redfield Canyon, in the Galiuros, received 10 bighorns taken from the Plamosa Mountains.

 

Long-term plans include more than 20 sites already designated as ideal habitat for future releases.

 

Because transplants are extremely expensive, funding sometimes creates an obstacle; it takes $850 to move one sheep. Multiplying this amount times the 54 sheep captured near Lake Mead last year comes to $45,900 --- give or take a few cents!

 

The Arizona Game and Fish Department, a self-supporting entity, found it extremely difficult to budget all of the needed funds for transplant efforts. Even though beneficial, some were postponed, while more urgent matters emptied the department's coffers.

 

A group of hunters and conservationists, aware of the need for better sheep management programs, banded together and organized the Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society in 1967. Since then, the society has raised thousands of dollars, and members, none of whom receive money for their efforts, have spent hours improving and building waterholes; assisting at sheep captures and releases and donating time for administrative work.

 

Last year the ADBSS persuaded the Game Commission to donate two permits for fund-raising efforts. Because no provision for this unprecedented request was ever enacted, the legislature passed an amended law in July 1983.

 

The first permit, auctioned on February 24, 1984 in California at a benefit conducted by the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep, raised $64,000 --- the amount bid by Don Pocapalia of Ranchos Palos Verdes, California.

 

The second one, mentioned earlier, brought another $82,450. The total monies from both permits, along with other fund-raising activities, amounted to $149,000. Since all of this money will help safeguard the bighorn's welfare, the department can use other funds on additional projects. Now, by using this year's society funds only, game managers can relocate 175 1/2 sheep!

[Arizona Extreme]

Hey I live in San Manuel give me a call I think I worked with you before I might have some info for you